Worcester Art Museum accused of displaying stolen 13th century window

Three museums, including the Worcester Art Museum, are being accused of displaying medieval stained glass windows that were stolen from a famous cathedral in France.

A French publication is reporting that Lumière sur le patrimoine, an association based in Paris, filed a complaint with a local prosecutor against WAM, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Glencairn Museum in Bryn Athyn, Pa.

The museums are accused of housing and displaying panes from the Legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. According to the Met, there are 11 panels, dated around 1200, which were originally from the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen in Rouen, France.

“Stained glass thefts were committed within Rouen Cathedral at the end of the 19th Century and in the first half of the following century,” the association’s president Philippe Machicote said, according to Ouest-France. “Smuggled through the Parisian market, these stained glass windows ended up in the hands of American collectors and, after their death, in museums.”

The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus depicts a Christian legend where seven brothers are sealed in a cave. WAM has the “Messengers from Ephesus before Emperor Theodosius II.”

“The Worcester Art Museum takes its curatorial and ethical responsibilities towards its collection very seriously,” WAM said in a statement to Boston.com. “The Museum acquired the stained-glass window at a public sale in 1921 and has never been contacted regarding this work of art. If the Museum receives information or a claim, we will consider it carefully and in compliance with best practices.”

According to the Glencairn Museum, some of the panels first came to the United States in 1918 through Henry C. Lawrence, the governor of the New York Stock Exchange, who installed them in his home. Raymond Pitcairn, a collector, bought at least two from Lawrence in 1921. Glencairn Museum was once the home of the Pitcairn family.

According to Glencairn, the WAM bought their panel at the Lawrence sale. The Met acquired their panel, “Theodosius Arrives at Ephesus,” through Glencairn in 1980.

This isn’t a first for WAM. The museum had to return a bust to Turkey last fall through the New York District Attorney, after new evidence surfaced that the work was most likely looted from a family shrine.